'It's just good vibes': Cooper Webb, Eli Tomac in tight Supercross battle, glad to return to Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH — When trying to sum up the history and prestige that make Daytona International Speedway such a special place to race, it can often become easy to trip over adjectives and drown in descriptors.

But Cooper Webb, who will enter Saturday night’s Monster Energy AMA Supercross event second in the standings, just two points behind leader Eli Tomac, found a simple way to encompass it all during media day on Friday afternoon.

“It’s probably the gnarliest race of the year,” he said. “It’s just good vibes, always.”

Fair enough.

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Those vibes will carry into Saturday as the series stops at Daytona for the 50th time. Opening ceremonies at the track are set to begin at 6:30 with streaming on Peacock starting at 7.

The two men who currently find themselves atop a tight tussle for series supremacy in the 450SX class said they feel it every year. However “it” is best construed.

“The general presence of it, coming through the tunnel and being inside here, it’s a feeling we don’t get the rest of the season, that’s for sure,” Tomac said. “It’s just the history of all the racing itself. It’s a good feeling.”

Tomac is used to good feelings when it comes to Daytona. His victory in the event last year gave him six, passing Ricky Carmichael for the most at the World Center of Racing. It also came at the expense of Webb, who had the lead until Tomac engineered a last-minute pass.

The secret to Tomac’s success?

“The secret is there is no secret,” he said with a smile.

Maybe not, but whatever the winning formula is, it’s evaded Webb, who is winless at Daytona despite three second-place finishes and two third places in the last five years.

“I have five podiums here, hoping this year it clicks,” he said.

It would certainly be big if it did. Daytona is the eighth of 17 events in the Supercross schedule and with the top three separated by just five points (Chase Sexton is third, five points behind Tomac), any victory is huge.

“No one has given an inch yet,” Tomac said. “This is a strong track for me and I need to take advantage of it.”

For Webb, just being back in the thick of things is a welcome feeling. He and Tomac are used to championship battles with the riders splitting the last four series titles. Tomac claimed the top prize in 2020 and 2022 with Webb winning the series in 2019 and 2021.

But last year was a trying one professionally for Webb. Despite entering 2022 as the reigning series champion, he struggled with a new KTM bike early. A broken hand resulting from a collision with Sexton in Detroit also hampered him late and he eventually settled for seventh in the standings.

Over the summer, he and wife Mariah welcomed their first child, a daughter in August and thus far in 2023, any questions over his ability to compete have been quieted. Webb enters having won two of the last three events including last week in Arlington, Texas.

“It’s awesome,” Webb said. “We’re in a great spot: second (place), two points down. Things are really spicing up. It’s really close, hard racing and it’s been fun to get in that mix.

“We’ll see where we end up in a few more weeks and at the end of the season.”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Supercross: Eli Tomac, Cooper Webb in points battle entering Daytona